That’s where a solid lean bulking plan comes into play. A lean bulk is a bulk in which the bulker gradually increases their total calorie intake until they’ve put themselves into a slight caloric surplus.

Once in this slight calorie surplus, the trainee can sustain it while gradually putting on muscle over the course of his/her bulk. The majority of the calories they consume will be from whole food sources, but to ensure they meet their calorie needs, they may choose a more calorie dense food option from time to time (i.e. they eat a bowl of ice cream vs a dirty bulker’s pint).

The increase in calorie consumption will allow you to go just a little bit harder in the gym, aid in your recovery, and allow you to crush all of your lean bulking goals.

Now, let’s get this post summer lean bulk started the right way.

Step 1: Find out Your Calorie Needs

The first step to a successful lean bulk is establishing a slight calorie surplus. To do this, you need to find out your daily calorie needs.

Try out our bmr calculator. The number you get from it is a good estimate for how many calories you need to eat each day to maintain your current weight.

From there, you’ll need to add calories to create a calorie surplus optimal for muscle growth. My recommendation would be to start off small and add +250 calories to your bmr.

Track your progress. Gains should come gradually; if you’re experiencing any more than 0.5lb of a weight change per week, your calories may be too high. (Keep in mind, with a bulk, you may experience some water retention. Be sure to track your overall body fat percentage as well as the scale can be deceiving).

After a couple weeks, you may want to add another +100-250 calories to your daily calorie totals. Be gradual in adding calories, especially if you’re coming off a long period of being in a calorie deficit.

I’d recommend revisiting the bmr calculator monthly as you gain weight to get a new bmr estimate to base your surplus numbers off of. As you add muscle, your daily calorie needs will increase and what may have started off as a surplus could turn into your maintenance needs.

Step 2: Figure Out Your Macronutrient Needs

The next logical step in setting up your lean bulk is figuring out your macronutrient needs so you can accomplish all of your muscle building goals.

The most critical macronutrient for repairing muscle broken down via resistance training is protein. Having adequate protein intake is an absolute necessity in achieving your goals.

However, there’s a lot of misinformation out there on adequate protein intake. If you’ve read enough, you’ve probably noticed there’s an “optimal range” that can go from 0.5-1.5+ grams of protein per pound of body weight.

That’s quite the range.

With that said, in a caloric surplus, you likely only need to stick within the 0.5-1.0g per pound of bodyweight, with around 0.72g per pound being the sweet spot (according to the most recent research)1.

That’s not to say you can’t eat more protein. You just might not see any added muscle building benefit from it.

But what about carbs and fat? Truth be told, so long as your protein intake is adequate and you’re eating the appropriate amount of calories for your goal, whether you eat a high fat or high carb diet likely doesn’t matter (barring those who have metabolic inefficiencies)2.

Personally, I like to go with 0.45g of fat per pound of bodyweight and then round out my caloric needs from carbohydrates. But you have to experiment a little and find out what macronutrient breakdown works best for you.

Step 3: Find a Muscle Building Workout

You won’t build any muscle unless you kick-start the muscle building process. This is best done through resistance training.

Weight training breaks down your muscles, so you can build them back up by doing all the right things outside of the gym.

So, which is the best workout for building muscle? Personally, I’d go with a predominately hypertrophy-based style of training during a lean bulk. Some of these workouts are great options:

Another route you could go with is increasing your intensity, and focus on adding a little strength. Some would argue that if you’re increasing your calorie intake, you should increase your level of intensity within the gym to build strength during a bulk.

Ultimately, that’s going to come down to your goals and your preferences. If you like to lift heavy, lift heavy. If you like higher volume, stick to hypertrophy training. If you want to experiment a little and go heavy on your main lifts and focus on hypertrophy on your secondary lifts, well then that is the ultimate hybrid my friend.

The perfect workout program will vary from person to person, and there may be multiple perfect programs for each individual. You have to experiment a little and find out what works best for you AND what you enjoy doing.

Step 4: Sleep, rest, recover

Time spent outside of the gym is arguably more important than the time you spend in the gym.

On your off days, you should be going on low intensity recovery walks (weather permitting) and working on your mobility. If your goal is to build muscle, you’ll likely sacrifice mobility work within the gym. So, make it a priority on your rest days.